Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 8
भिक्षंतं भस्मदिग्धांगं झषकेतुमिवापरम् । विक्षोभिताश्च नः सर्वे दारा एतेन डिंडिना
bhikṣaṃtaṃ bhasmadigdhāṃgaṃ jhaṣaketumivāparam | vikṣobhitāśca naḥ sarve dārā etena ḍiṃḍinā
„Er zieht bettelnd umher, die Glieder mit Asche bestrichen, wie ein anderer Jhaṣaketu; und durch diesen Ḍiṃḍin sind unsere Frauen allesamt aufgewühlt worden.“
Ṛṣis (the sages) speaking collectively (from immediate narrative context)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (episode locus)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devī
Scene: The sages, agitated, point accusingly at the ash-smeared beggar-ascetic, comparing him to Jhaṣaketu; their faces show outrage while the ascetic remains eerily calm.
FAQs
External ascetic marks can provoke social tension; the deeper teaching is to master agitation and respond through dharma, not impulse.
Prabhāsakṣetra, where the Māhātmya situates this encounter to highlight the sanctity and transformative power of the region.
None; the verse reports a complaint that drives the ensuing curse-and-consecration narrative.